Jerome Abelman was appointed director of legal and external affairs and general counsel of British American Tobacco in May 2015, having joined the management board as group corporate and regulatory affairs director in January 2015. He has been with the group for more than 15 years and has held a number of roles in the legal department. Abelman was regional general counsel for the Asia-Pacific region from 2010 to 2014 before becoming assistant general counsel of corporate and commercial. Abelman was a member of the board of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) from February 2016 until the acquisition of RAI in July 2017.